Shades of ’23? Sporting KC finds itself in a similar hole, with just one way out
When things aren’t going right — in sports or otherwise — frustration typically follows.
Well, that frustration finally boiled over for Peter Vermes last weekend.
Sporting Kansas City’s manager was extra demonstrative in pointing to the locker room and saying, “There will be suffering over there” after last Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Houston Dynamo at Children’s Mercy Park.
Vermes, a longtime veteran of playing and coaching in Major League Soccer, also said his players possess the mentality to turn around their unsightly start: two wins, five losses, five draws.
After all, they dug themselves out of a very similar hole last year. And Vermes’ roster saw little turnover this past offseason.
“That team figured out from a mentality perspective to do what they did last year,” Vermes said. “Which was, in my opinion, pretty impressive once we got our guys back.”
Sporting KC is actually off to a better start this year than either of the past two, but not by much. In 2022 and again in 2023, Sporting collected just two wins in its first 12 MLS games. This year Sporting KC again has two wins in 12 tries ... albeit with fewer losses sprinkled in.
The club’s start this season would look better if Sporting hadn’t dropped so many points from winning positions. And that’s where Vermes sees a lack of winning mentality.
“It’s a mentality right now,” he said. “It’s not that they don’t have it. It’s that it’s not happening.”
Injury absences helped fuel Sporting KC’s underwhelming starts to the 2023 and 2023 campaigns. But Vermes’ team is mostly healthy this spring, making this year’s start even more vexing.
“There was a lot of adversity to overcome and I don’t think we did what we did last year just by chance,” defender Jake Davis said. “I think we all put our foot down and understood that we were in a bad position. And I think this year we’re starting to creep into that spot.”
But he added this:
“It’s not a good habit to take this long in the season to wake up.”
So what happens now? If the situation called for bringing in some new players, that would be nearly impossible (at least until mid-July, when the secondary transfer window opens).
So there are a couple of ways Vermes can approach Sporting KC’s current predicament. He could bench players whose effort he questions. Or he could wait a bit longer to see if a response is forthcoming — and then make necessary changes if it doesn’t materialize.
For now, potential solutions appear evasive.
“The difference is that we’re not talking about whether you can pass a ball or dribble or shoot,” Vermes said. “We’re talking about your fight, your selflessness in the game.
“And (my decision on actions needed) will be determined based on what I’ve seen. It’ll be determined by what it’s like in training, and also in the next game, and every single situation thereafter.”
Veteran goalkeeper Tim Melia challenged his teammates to look inward.
“I think the thing that needs to be done from the player side is that when we’re on the field, we have to make sure that we are individually fighting,” he said. “I think there’s been plenty of games this season that maybe results didn’t go the way that we would like them to, but ultimately everyone’s effort was there. And I feel like there’s been a little bit of a drop in that.
“To me,” he continued. “That’s a very easy thing to fix. That’s not a quality thing, (or) structural, technical, tactical ... It is purely in your own mind. It’s that, ‘I need to win my individual battle. I need to make sure I’m running hard. I need to make sure I’m saving this.’
“To me, that is a very easy fix. And that’s why I’m not sitting here hitting a panic button at this point of the season.”
